Toxic drywall imports still being debated

Friday

Dec 28, 2012 at 9:30 PM

BATON ROUGE — It first became an issue as local residents were rebuilding in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and at least one U.S. senator from Louisiana said the dangers involved with toxic Chinese drywall remain unresolved.

Jeremy AlfordCapitol Correspondent

BATON ROUGE — It first became an issue as local residents were rebuilding in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and at least one U.S. senator from Louisiana said the dangers involved with toxic Chinese drywall remain unresolved.U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a Republican from Metairie, said the current Congress can offer up a possible solution, even during its final days. He introduced a “bipartisan” amendment last week to prevent toxic drywall from entering U.S. markets. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Bill Nelson of Florida have signed on as co-sponsors of the amendment. Since the 2005 hurricane season, Vitter said many homes in south Louisiana, particularly the southeast, have been rebuilt with toxic Chinese drywall. The long distance separating the consumer from the manufacturer left affected homeowners with few remedies. As recently as 2010, the state Legislature has unsuccessfully attempted to carve out an exemption in Louisiana's tort reform laws, meaning homeowners have had to sue manufacturers based in China rather than the domestic retailers. As litigation progressed, many Chinese companies have argued that the U.S. courts have no jurisdiction overseas. Vitter's amendment doesn't affect this issue, but it would potentially stop it from happening on such a large scale again. The amendment has been attached to the proposed federal Drywall Safety Act, which establishes chemical guidelines for drywall, from importation to disposal. Already approved by the House, the bill would prevent unsafe drywall from entering U.S. markets by ensuring that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission adheres to certain health and safety standards.Vitter's amendment stipulates that the standards would have to be reached by “consensus” with stakeholders, like the building industry, making decisions.The amendment also ensures that unsafe drywall will not be reused by requiring it to be labeled with the manufacturer's identity. “I want to ensure that folks don't experience the nightmare of building or repairing a home with toxic drywall,” Vitter said. “This legislation will make sure unsafe drywall won't be sold in the future and that drywall manufacturers are held accountable.”The amendment Vitter is co-sponsoring with Warner and Nelson is a “compromise,” he added, that narrows the emphasis of the legislation to focus on detecting high sulfur content and tracing the origins of the drywall to the manufacturer.The National Association of Home Builders supports Vitter's amendment, although the domestic trade group had “concerns” with the original bill because it lacked stakeholder input.James W. Tobin III, chief lobbyist for the association, criticized the original legislation for its lack of stakeholder input.Tobin also said he feared that the regulatory regime of the Consumer Product Safety Commission would have been overly broadened by the original bill, as it stood without Vitter's amendment. The commission is a federal agency charged with “protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction,” according to its website. “Homebuilding is already a highly regulated industry,” he said.In contrast, Tobin said Vitter's amendment “significantly improves” the original bill “by clarifying that the authority granted to the Consumer Product Safety Commission is narrowly tailored and that the voluntary standard adopted by the commission will be consensus-based, having the full support of business stakeholders.”Vitter's amendment has been cleared by Republicans in the Senate without objection and is awaiting approval by Democrats.

Jeremy Alford can be reached at jeremy@jeremyalford.com.

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